To me, and to many others, the news of the death of Stanley Hughes at the age of 69, was a real blow.
many of the present generation of bridge players may never have heard of him, but much of the popularity of the game today is in no small measure due to Stan Hughes. With Col Buller, Ewart Kempson, Lederer and Leslie Dodds, he was one of the real pioneers of duplicate bridge and the many games he took part in all over the country did a tremendous amount of spade work towards making known the game we now enjoy.
His ideas on Contract Bridge were far in advance of his time and many of the modern principles of bidding came from his brain.
Anything I know about bridge is mainly through having Stanley Hughes as a partner for six years.
In the early days of Contract we played a one club system - a bid showing eighteen points and upwards. in consequence, if either of us opened with a bid of two no-trumps and partner passed on quite a reasonable hand and opener turned out to have something like eight diamonds headed by the queen and little else, the cry would go up 'Private understanding'. Stan Hughes then patiently explained that his opponents should have known it could not be a genuine two no-trumps; there could not be such a bid without first opening with one club.
When he won the Gold Cup in 1936 he gave up competitive bridge, having represented England and Great Britain on numerous occasions. At the old Junior Constitutional Club and later at the Devonshire he had a host of friends and he was known to all for his wonderful psychology at all card games, particularly poker and six pack bezique. At the latter game he had no equal.
the editor (Ewart Kempson) knew Stanley Hughes well and i am sure he will join me in saying 'Good-bye Stan, you always played a grand game'.
by Harry St John Ingram
Major International Appearances
European Championships: 1935 and 1936
Camrose Trophy Selections: 1937
Gold Cup Winner: 1936